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Maps and More from High Point Now Available!

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maps memorabilia

Thanks to our partners at High Point Museum and the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library, a new batch of materials including a beautiful series of programs from swim competitions, booklets on High Point manufacturers, and full-color maps of Guilford County. The materials range from as far back as 1920 to as recent as 2018, encompassing nearly a century of North Carolina memory. They will join an already massive collection of High Point Museum materials already online at DigitalNC, with nearly four hundred objects already digitized.

A purple and white map of High Point, North Carolina.
This is just one of the many gorgeous maps in the collection!

The highlight of this collection is absolutely the nine beautifully illustrated maps that detail the geography of High Point and its surrounding area. These nine maps each date from different eras of Guilford County history, and reflect the changing landscape of one of North Carolina’s largest manufacturing centers throughout the years. Care is taken with many of the maps to label the individual streets and businesses, and include meticulously maintained directories. Event maps, such as for the Henredon Classic and North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, include historic blurbs and art for visitors to appreciate. A truly massive amount of care and attention for High Point was poured into the creation of each map, and that care leaps from the page even today.

You can find these new maps, along with the rest of this batch, online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in learning more about High Point’s history? You can find the partner page for our friends at High Point Museum here and the Heritage Research Center at High Point Public Library here. Interested in looking at more historic maps? Try our maps collection online here!

New Hyde County Courthouse Record Now Available

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memorabilia

Thanks to our new partner at the Friends of Hyde Countys Historic 1854 Courthouse, DigitalNC is pleased to announce a brand new report on the courthouse is now available online! This report, from 2011, is an exhaustive body of research drafted by the Historic Research Committee Chairman. It records the names of presiding Superior Court Judges as well as the names of Court Pleas Justices, sorted both chronologically and alphabetically. The report also includes a wonderfully detailed history of the 1854 courthouse, including details on the building’s architectural design and its placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

Image of the side of a brick two story courthouse with each addition marked by the date it was built (1838; 1892; 1909)

The Chairman’s report also includes biographical excerpts on each presiding court justice, alongside notes on additions and improvements made to the courthouse (such as a secure vault in 1909). This body of work is full of amazing historical anecdotes about significant figures in North Carolina’s history. For example, did you know that Joseph W. Todd is said to have been the only lawyer ever to successfully make a joke to the State Supreme Court? He also coined the name “red-legged grass-hoppers” to the state senate’s internal revenue service, who were the first to wear leather leggins in their walks through the Appalachians in search of moonshine stills. Or that Romulus M. Saunders, a longtime legislator for the state, is said to have a “defective” early education?

Interested in learning more about the eighth oldest courthouse in North Carolina? You can find more materials from the Friends of Hyde Countys Historic 1854 Courthouse online at their partner page.

N. C. Mutual Life Insurance Company Photographs Featured in Latest Batch

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maps memorabilia photos

Thanks to our partner, Durham County Library, a batch containing additional Durham Urban Renewal maps, Festival for the Eno posters, photographs, and taxes and poll tax books are now available on DigitalNC. Among the materials in this batch are photographs related to the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Building with two large awnings above double doors. Above the awnings, written in the stone, is "N. C. Mutual Life Insurance Co."
N. C. Mutual Life Insurance Co. Building

For centuries, life insurance has been utilized to provide financial assistance to beneficiaries of deceased individuals to help pay end-of-life costs and maintain financial security after an individual has passed. With changes and events in the United States such as the Panic of 1837 and passing of laws allowing women the right to purchase insurance policies in the 19th century, the life insurance industry saw a huge boom which carried into the 20th century. Despite the need to grow their policy holder numbers, life insurance companies in the decades following the formal end of enslavement, there was little, if any, interest to market to the Black community. And the few companies that did offer policies to Black individuals were unaffordable.

View inside an office. There are numerous desks with papers, books, and other materials on top of them. Several desks have individuals sitting at them working. One person is standing up looking through a filing cabinet drawer.
N. C. Mutual Life Insurance Company Office

In 1898, seven Black community leaders in Durham founded the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association to provide affordable life insurance to Black individuals. The company did more than just provide life insurance policies however. Rooted in the tradition of fraternal aid societies at the time and a sense of corporate social consciousness and responsibility, N.C. Mutual functioned as an instrument of social welfare and served as a center for Black politics, education, and philanthropy. Their “Double-Duty Dollar” concept took money from insurance sales and put them back into the Black community. This concept resulted in the building and uplifting of Black communities through jobs, investments, loans, community leadership, as well as support of community projects and charities. Today, the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Agency remains the oldest and largest active Black-owned life insurance company in the nation.

Group of individuals both sitting and standing with the caption "N.C. Mutual Glee Club" written below them. The people are dressed in 1920s attire.
N. C. Mutual Glee Club [1929]

The photograph of the N. C. Mutual Glee Club from 1929 includes prominent Durhamite, Bessie Alberta Johnson Whitted (also referred to as “Miss Bess” and Mrs. B. A. J. Whitted, seated first on the left). She was one of the company’s first female employees, holding the position of cashier alongside bookkeeper and eventually assistant treasurer. Miss Bess was famous for helping build Black Wall Street in Durham, paving the way for women in business, musical direction, and her involvement in the community. She served as the advisor to the Junior Activities Committee of the Algonquin Club, president of the local chapter of Iota Phi Lambda Sorority for business women, and director of both the N. C. Mutual Glee Club and St. Joseph AME Church choir.

To learn more about Durham County Library, visit their website. To view more materials related to Urban Renewal in Durham, view our Durham Urban Renewal Records exhibit linked here. To browse more materials from Durham County Library, visit their contributor page here.

Information about the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company was gathered from the company’s website here, North Carolina History encyclopedia entry, “North Carolina Mutual Life,” linked here, and the NCpedia entry “North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company,” linked here. Information about Bessie Alberta Johnson Whitted was gathered from articles in The Carolina Times from May 16, 1942, April 18, 1959, and August 8, 1959.

Halloween Decorations and Costumes Featured in Latest Bessemer City Record Issues

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newspapers

Ghost with a disgusted looking face.
Disgusted Ghost, October 18, 1989.

Thanks to our partner, Bessemer City History and Art Society, a batch containing an additional 3,500 pages of The Bessemer City Record and The Tri-City Record are now available on DigitalNC! These issues span from 1984-1985 and 1987-1989 and focus heavily on highlighting local news, events, and scenes about town. The issues in this batch published near Halloween feature fabulous costumes worn for the “Halloween social season” along with spookily decorated yards.

Bessemer City Record editor Lois Smith is seen here in her Egyptian Queen costume along with “Witch” Hazel Harmon, Ernie Kincaid as a California raisin, and first place costume winner Mrs. Florence Gossage. Mrs. Gossage, dressed as a flapper girl, designed and decorated her outfit with numerous handmade motifs.

Individual dressed as a witch.
“Witch” Hazel Harmon, November 15, 1989.
Individual dressed as a flapper, with long pearl necklaces, hair piece, and long dress with fringe.
Flapper Girl, Mrs. Florence Gossage, November 15, 1989.
Individual in a wheelchair with glasses dressed as a belly dancer.
Lois Smith, November 15, 1989.

In 1985, the title of Halloween House was given to a residence on Iowa Avenue in Bessemer City. The yard featured “everything that could be thought of with a Halloween theme” — which included a pumpkin man, corn stalks, jack-o’-lanterns, as well as a witch and some ghosts suspended from the roof. Featured in both 1987 (below) and 1989 (disgusted ghost), the residence at the corner of Texas and 11th Street appears to have taken the title of Halloween House.

House featuring Halloween decorations in the yard including ghosts and witches suspended from the roof, haybales, pumpkin man, pumpkins, and corn stalks.
Halloween House of 1985, November 13, 1985.
Yard decorated for Halloween featuring a witch and cornstalks. Featured in the foreground of the image is a large cactus looking plant.
Residence at Texas and 11th Street, October 28, 1987.

To view all digitized issues of The Bessemer City Record, please click here.

To learn more about the Bessemer City History and Arts Society, view their contributor page linked here.

To browse more North Carolina newspapers, view our newspaper collection here.

Poets Muse in the Mountains in New Southwestern Records

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campuspublications memorabilia

An illustration of two lovers united by a flaming heart. They watch over an ancient Greek landscape.
From Pen and Ink Vol 2, Number 2

Thanks to our partners at Southwestern Community College, DigitalNC now contains a new batch of records from the school spanning over three decades from 1967 to 2002. These records not only reflect the administrative and academic growth of Southwestern, but also the vibrant culture and community of its faculty and students. While administrative reports and meeting minutes paint a vivid picture of the financial and curricular development of the campus, a vast and varied collection of newsletters, brochures, and magazines reveal the beauty of living and working around Jackson County, North Carolina.

Perhaps one of the most entertaining and colorful reflections of mountain life can be found in the form of Pen & Ink, a literary magazine published by Southwestern students beginning in 1978. Each issue of this magazine contains poetry and art submitted by Southwestern’s very own students and faculty, reflecting their musings on life, love, and learning. Artistic subjects range from portraits of famous scientific thinkers to beautiful, airbrush-esque fantasy scenes that take up entire pages of the magazine. And, while many poems are devoted to loves lost or not yet earned, there’s a wonderful selection of poems to be found about mountain living or rock and roll. Earnest introspection splashes out from each page of Pen & Ink, reflecting the often pseudonymous or anonymous authors freedom during the end of the 1970s.

The title of "Horrorscopes" by staff writer Leslie Bachman. An illustration of a witch is included.
An example of the Halloween themed “Humorscopes” often featured in Cornerstone.

You can also find colorful examples of student life at Southwestern in newly digitized issues The Cornerstone, a regular newsletter published by and for students. Each issue of The Cornerstone contains photos of student life at Southwestern, from spring flings to Halloween celebrations, as well as a recurring section of “Humorscopes,” satirical predictions of students’ futures based on their zodiac sign. The Cornerstone also diligently worked to amplify student voices, providing a sections on the front and back page expressly for student feedback. The front page section, known as “The Colliquoy,” frequently cited students and their concerns on pertinent topics and stories, while the back-page section, titled “The Cornerstone Market” offered an open forum where students could post jobs, apartments, or school supplies.

Thanks again to our partners at Southwestern Community College for making this collection available online. You can find issues of The Cornerstone, as well as Pen & Ink and the rest of this amazing collection, online now at DigitalNC here. Interested in learning more about Southwestern Community College? You can find their partner page online at DigitalNC here, or visit their website here.

Catalogs from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s Earlier Years Now Available on DigitalNC!

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campuspublications memorabilia

Individual sitting at a table working on a deconstructed sewing machine. In the background are three individuals doing the same, but with their back to the camera.
Industrial Sewing Machine Mechanics, Rowan Technical Institute General Catalog [1968-1969].

Thanks to our partner, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, a batch containing an informational bulletin for the school’s first year along with 12 catalogs dating between 1964 to 1978 are now online! These catalogs provide information about classes, programs, cost of attendance, and more, for Rowan Technical Institute during its earliest years.

To learn more about Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, visit their website here.

To view more materials from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, please click here.

To view more materials from community colleges from across North Carolina, view our North Carolina Community College Collections exhibit here.

New Issues of the Olin News Offers a Unique Glimpse at a Mountain Community Built Around a Paper Factory

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newspapers

With the help of our partners at Transylvania County Library, we are excited to announce that new issues of the Olin News (Brevard, N.C) are now available on DigitalNC. Adding to our preexisting digital collection, which has issues from September 1967 to October 1979, this new batch includes 129 issues dating from November 1955 to July 1967.

Olin News was the publication of the Ecusta Paper Corporation, the first paper mill to manufacture cigarette papers in the United States. Located along the Davidson River in the Pisgah Forest, the Ecusta Paper Corporation was founded by Henry Straus in 1939 and became a major source of employment in Transylvania County. Before the company was sold to the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation in 1949, the first iteration of the Ecusta Paper Corporation’s newspaper called The Echo, was published in February of 1940. After acquiring the Pisgah Forest plant, the new ownership maintained the tradition of publishing monthly newspapers for its employees with the Olin News.

Factory newspapers like the Olin News are often overlooked, yet uniquely rich resources for community news. Alongside the growth of the Ecusta Paper Mill, Olin News records the history of the Brevard, N.C. community that is inseparably connected with the successes, challenges, and life history of its local mill. The Ecusta Paper Mill brought families to Brevard and supported generations of residents as a major employer in the area. The mill’s monthly publication included the recurring section “Look Who’s Here,” which welcomed the arrival of Brevard’s newest residents who were born to families employed by the company. The company awarded scholarships to local students and announced the achievements of its employee’s children. Additionally, the newspaper routinely published an opinion section, prompting employees across different departments to share their thoughts on specific questions like “When you have a bad day, what do you do to get it off your mind?” and “Who has the hardest job, the housewife or the breadwinner?“.

Underneath the heading "Swimming Area Is Center Of Activity At Camp Straus This Summer" a picture shows a person moments after jumping off a diving board at Camp Straus' lake. The person is pictured in mid-air with their arms outstretched and body parallel to the water below.
Olin News, July 1957

The Ecusta Paper Corporation also ran Camp Straus, a company park named after its founder. The company park was open to employees and their families, as well as local community groups for special events. Amenities included swimming and fishing areas, a central lodge, a small golf course, and outdoor sports courts. Community members from Brevard gathered here for events like the annual company picnic, seasonal youth and adult sports leagues, community swimming and sports lessons, and simply just beat the summer heat. A favorite spot for many, the activities of Camp Straus are extensively chronicled throughout issues of Olin News. While the site of Camp Straus has been mostly demolished and repurposed as a housing development, pictures of the lodge and a sketch of the park’s original layout can be found on DigitalNC here.

Although the sun might have set on Camp Straus and the Ecusta Paper Mill, which closed operations in 2002, the long history of the company and its tight-knit community continue to live on through resources like DigitalNC’s collection of the Olin News and photographic collections from the Transylvania County Library. For DigitalNC visitors with family ties to Brevard or the Ecusta Paper Mill, or visitors simply interested in learning more about the community members of this factory town, DigitalNC allows users to easily find material related to specific individuals through our searchable text technology. Visitors can access this feature to search across issues of the Olin News by using the “Keyword(s)” search bar found here, and can learn more about this technology from a blog post found here.

Four aerial photographs of the location of the Ecusta Paper Mill in the Pisgah Forest. The first photograph, from 1938 before the Ecusta Mill was built, shows a valley of cropland with a river running through it. More aerial photographs from 1940, 1942, and 1950 continue to document the growth of Ecusta Paper Mill.
Olin News, September 1964

DigitalNC also has more 20th-century company newspapers available to browse, including the titles featured below:

Visitors can view more issues of the Olin News here.

More information about our partner, Transylvania County Library, can be found here. 

More materials, including scrapbooks, yearbooks, photographs, maps, and six other newspaper titles can be found on Transylvania County Library’s contributor page linked here. 

Visitors can browse Transylvania: The Architectural History of a Mountain County, a digital exhibit featuring a curated selection of items from our partner here.

Introducing the World War II Primary Source Sets

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teacher resources

People stand around a train with a sign that reads: "We buy war bonds, we keep 'em rolling." The train flies an American flag.
Court Square War Bond Rally

We are pleased to announce the addition of two new primary source sets on our site, the World War II, Part 1: North Carolina Before Pearl Harbor set and the World War II, Part 2: North Carolina After Pearl Harbor set. While these sets are centered on different aspects of North Carolina in relation to the Second World War, they both use carefully selected primary sources from the DigitalNC collections, supplied from our partners across the state. World War II is a broad topic relevant to many other regions, but these sets focus on how North Carolina and its people were impacted by the war.

Making up each set is a variety of written (journal entries, newspaper articles, letters), visual (photographs), and audio materials (oral histories). General background information, an event timeline, discussion questions, and links to outside resources are available in both sets, as well as short context statements provided for each item. Here’s a look at Part 1 and Part 2 of the World War II primary source sets:

Five men and one woman, members of the Davie County draft board, pose for a photograph.
World War II Draft Board

World War II, Part 1: North Carolina Before Pearl Harbor

Time period: 1940-1941

Although the United States did not enter World War II until the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the nation and the state of North Carolina were attentive to the ongoing conflict in the years before the U.S. entered the war. Using a photograph, journal entry, college publication, oral history, and several newspaper articles, this set focuses specifically on how North Carolina was impacted by nation-wide war preparations. Additionally, this set portrays the different perspectives that North Carolinians had on the war.

A red and blue bag with tassels that holds a champagne bottle inside. The bag is inside an opened wooden box.
USS Chapel Hill Victory Ship Champagne Christening Bottle

World War II, Part 2: North Carolina After Pearl Harbor

Time period: 1941-1945

Japanese military forces attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, drawing the United States into World War II and causing significant and lasting impact on the country as well as on North Carolina. This set uses photographs, newspaper articles, letters, and a scrapbook to explore North Carolina’s culture and economy as it was changed by the Second World War.

Teachers, students, researchers, and anyone interested in learning more about the Tar Heel state before and after the attack on Pearl Harbor can find the World War II primary source sets (as well other sets about different topics) on our resources page. To give us feedback on the sets, please contact us here.

Ridgeview High Mighty Panthers and Hickory High Materials Now Available!

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memorabilia yearbooks

Three individuals in light colored dresses and high heels standing side by side.
AKA Sorority Hickory Debutantes [1961] from the Ridgeview High Mighty Panthers [1926-1966]

Thanks to our partner, Hickory Public Library, a batch containing 18 new yearbooks from what is officially known now as Hickory High School, as well as a copy of Ridgeview High Mighty Panthers [1926-1966], is now available online.

The Hickory Log as a yearbook/annual refers to three different buildings used for Hickory’s high school between 1917 to today. The area’s high school was first named Hickory High School, but was changed to Claremont High School when the school relocated in the early 1920s. The name change brought about a period of skirting, parenthesizing and misuse of the high school name as people continued to refer to the school as Hickory High School. Nearly 50 years later, in 1972, the school was once again relocated. This time, however, the Hickory Board of Education agreed to officially name the new school Hickory High School.

Image of a brick school building from 1948. Under the image is written "Claremont Central High School."
Claremont Central High School from The Hickory Log [1948]



The first school building, located at 432 4th Avenue SW Hickory, NC 28603, opened September 17, 1917. When the school relocated, the remaining building became the Green Park Elementary School before serving as the Hickory City Schools administration building.

The second of these buildings, named Claremont Central High School, was located at 243 3rd Avenue NE Hickory, NC 28601. In 1919, the former site of Claremont Female College (which operated from 1880 to 1916) was donated by the Corinth Reformed Church to the city contingent on the construction of a school. The deed was signed for the high school on January 26, 1924; however, it did not open until October 9, 1925 under the name Claremont Central High School. The school remained at this location for 47 years until it was again relocated in 1972. Twelve years after the relocation, the former Claremont Central High School was designated as a local landmark by the City of Hickory and listed on the National Register of Historic Places a year later.

In 1972, Hickory High School’s third building opened at 1234 3rd Street NE Hickory, NC 28601 and is still in operation today.

1970s brick style school building. Under the image is written "Hickory High School."
Hickory High School from The Hickory Log [1974]

To learn more about Hickory Public Library, visit their website here.

To view more materials from Hickory Public Library, visit their contributor page here.

To view more yearbooks from across North Carolina, visit our North Carolina Yearbooks Collection here.

High Step Back to School with 30 New Chowan County High School Yearbooks!

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yearbooks

Thanks to our partner, Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library, a batch containing 31 new high school yearbooks are now available on DigitalNC! Spanning 1924 to 1972, these yearbooks come from:

Individual dressed in a drum major uniform complete with a tall shako (hat) with tassle. The individual has one knee up high and a baton in their hand.
Wilbur Gilliam, Edentonian [1972], page 20.

To learn more about Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library, visit their website here.

To view more materials from Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library, visit their contributor page here.

To view more yearbooks from across North Carolina, please view our North Carolina Yearbooks collection linked here.

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This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.

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